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Spectrum Reviews

Spectrum offers supplemental workbooks in the following subjects: Math, Early Childhood Reading & Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and Testing. The materials are grade appropriate, but there are not materials for every grade.

(6 Reviews)

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Spectrum Review by Marye Beck

March 8, 2012

Pros: consistent Cons: a bit scatter-shot, but all elementary science is like that, I think

Grades Used: 3, 4, 5

We have used three grades worth of these “Spectrum Science” workbooks; we have purchased up to Grade 8, too. My daughter is currently working through the Grade 5 book (she previously finished Grades 3 & 4). The layout is a narrative (which you can read to the child, or have the child read it), then a series of questions. The reading level and questions get progressively harder, the further on you get in the series. Within a workbook, I’d say the reading level and questions stay about the same. Regarding scatter-shot-ness, I think all elementary science curriculum suffers from scatter-shot-ness, so Spectrum just fits in with the pack in that regard.

Pros: doesn't require a hidden code to do the work Cons: not enough space to do work

Grades Used: 4, 7, 8

My sons have been using these books this year and it works well for them since they catch onto math concepts quickly. The only complaint both my sons had was that there wasn’t enough space to do their work on the pages, something easily resolved by using scratch paper or a white board. I like that the examples follow the same way of doing the work that I learned 25 years ago.

We are using the Spectrum Math book for grade 2 this year. It is set up in an easy-to-use manner, with a pre-test for each section, then the practice pages, and then a post-test. It also includes a mid-test and final test. The pages are clear and uncluttered. The only thing I have found difficult is that there are no suggestions for teaching the concepts, apart from a little introduction to each section for the student to look at. I have had to add things like flashcards to reinforce memorization.

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